Brain Plasticity

The idea of brain plasticity gives me hope.  Hope that it is not impossible to relearn the things that we already know after sever brain trauma or stroke.  If that were to happen to me I would have probably fallen into a state where I think it's impossible to learn how to do things again because biologically some of the neurons have died and I cannot make new ones.  Hopeless, right? Wrong!The way the brain compensates on it's own through collateral sprouts which creates new branches that form after damage is amazing.  It's strongly emphasized that getting on top of it early on through physical therepy and drug stimulation is best to ensure maximum plasticity.  It's seems to be hard work and a long road but there is still hope.  I have a cousin who had sever meningits as a teenager, it got so bad that he was mostly in a coma and they had to do surgeries to relieve the pressure in his brain.  At first, he couldn't do much, walk or talk or anything.  It's been about 10 years since that happened to him and now he talks and can have normal conversations, he can walk with the help of crutches, he drives and has a job.  He's not 100 back to the way he used to be but his life has improved significantly.  Brain plasticity as I see it, makes the first step for you but you have to take the initiative and do the rest.

My fascination with Glia

At the World Science Festival where many neuroscientists other doctors and physicists meet and discuss new discoveries in Science, there has been an interesting topic that has started to emerge.  Scientist have developed a new method to study the Glia, which type of cell in the brain.  The other type of cell which is a neuron and nueurons transmit information using electricity and seems like it is more concrete, more scientific because there has been more research and we  have been studying neurons longer.  After Albert Einstein's brain was examined after his death, they noticed that his the nuerons in his brain were not larger or that there was more of them or even different in any way to a normal person's brain. They did see that he had more glia cells which you might speculate is the reason for his genius.  Here's a TV report that explains Einsteins genius.

The way glia operates is what I find to be particularly interesting since even my ELEVENTH edition text book found it difficult to summarize the exact function of glia cells.  It seems to have this kind of mystical nature to it, the way we can't really understand a higher power because it is far too complicated and interrelated to everything around us.  Since the astrocysts wrap around a presynaptic  terminals of a group of related axons and it both takes and releases ions, it almost regulates or synchronizes the activity of axons (something we far better understand).  As amazing as axons are, you have something like an astrocysts who don't just play a supporting role but a main role in the way messages are sent.  They do much more in the forms of microglia, oligodendrocytes and even radial glia that guide the migration of neuron and their axons and dendrites during embryonic development.  Wow, embryonic development!  I think that is why I am so fascinated at the array of functions and how they seem to be lesser known but they guide our development and regulate the the way we feel, touch, perceive and understand on an even higher level than neurons.  I think that neuroscientists are barely scratching the surface on how to better understand glia cells but I think they will continue to fascinate us.  So much so that they will become even more than they already are despite our better understanding of them.

Introduction to Physiological Psychology

There is no doubt that psychology is very interesting to say the least and I’m especially excited about this class and this textbook because of the biological aspect.  After reading the three assigned sections I can tell you that even though EEG, MEG and fMRI parts are a little intimidating and kind of boring, the most interesting part thus far has been brain anatomy and behavior by using the newer methods like CT scans to construct images of the brain. If there are tumors or other abnormalities it may provide a reason for different behavior, emotions or lack thereof.  Sometimes a brain area might be enlarged on people who have special skills.  This is what I find to be absolutely fascinating because the way a person is raised and nurtured may be hard to determine but a picture of their abnormal brain can provide a more concrete and scientific understanding of their behavior.  During the summer I took Life Span and Development with Dr. Leka and we briefly touched on this subject of brain anatomy and behavior.  He told us about Charles Whitman, the man who sniper shot random victims at the University of Texas in 1966 and how an autopsy revealed a tumor near the amygdala, a region in the brain responsible for emotional reactions. 

 

I think it’s pretty evident that his medical condition might have played a huge role his reckless actions.  It doesn’t mean I discredit any other possibilities, I am well aware of the biopsychosocial model but I think it’s important to understand psychology at this level so we can separate judgments.   It makes me see him as a victim of disease rather than just a cold heartless murderer and that’s also very important in psychology.  In conclusion, I’m excited about these types of discoveries in my textbook!  Oh, also the section about animal research is making me stay more on the fence because I agree with both sides.  I would hate to hurt animals and cause them pain but it is very true that medical research is absolutely necessary. I would consider myself a “minimalist”.